Lisa Hoffman

Lisa Hoffman is a Professor at the University of Washington Tacoma's School of Urban Studies, where she has taught since 2002. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from UC Berkeley (2000), an M.A. in China Regional Studies from the University of Washington (1992), and a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University (1988). Her interdisciplinary research examines urban anthropology through the lenses of power dynamics, governance technologies, and subject formation.

Her research focuses on spatiality-subjectivity relationships across contexts including urban China, Japanese-American identity in Tacoma, homelessness, and precision medicine. Key themes include: neoliberal governance, citizenship formation, volunteerism, green urbanism, and the molecularization of life. Her current project analyzes precision medicine's impact on conceptions of health and risk in Seattle's biotech ecosystem.

Publication analysis reveals consistent focus on urban governance transformations, particularly in China, with recent expansion into: citizen environmental mobilization, topological methodologies, affect theory, and community-based historical research. Her scholarship demonstrates increasing engagement with interdisciplinary frameworks bridging anthropology, geography, and medical humanities.

Advising & Collaborations:

• Supervised MS student Sarah Pyle on geospatial analysis of Tacoma's Japanese-American history
• Collaborates with historians and medical researchers
• Teaches capstone seminars mentoring undergraduate research